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In October, the committee said it was considering new evidence and a range of views.

The vaccine was licensed for use in January last year and the committee figures suggest that since then, at least 200 people in Britain were killed by meningitis B or suffered serious after-effects.

Professor John Watson, deputy chief medical officer at the Department of Health, said: ‘Infants under one year of age are most at risk of meningitis B and the number of cases peak at around five or six months of age.

Since the meningitis B vaccine was created last year at least 200 people in Britain were killed by meningitis B or suffered serious after-effects

‘With early diagnosis and antibiotic treatment, most make a full recovery.

‘But it is fatal in about one in ten cases and can lead to long-term health problems such as amputation, deafness, epilepsy and learning difficulties.

‘We will now be working closely with Novartis in the coming months and, if negotiations are successful, we hope to work with the other UK health departments to introduce a vaccine to prevent meningitis B as quickly as possible.

‘This would make the UK the first country in the world to implement a nationwide vaccination programme.’

Andrin Oswald, division head at Novartis Vaccines, said the company will work with the Department of Health to get the vaccine to babies as early as this summer.

‘At Novartis, it took us more than 20 years of hard work to get to this point,’ he said.

The joint committee has recommended infants are immunised from two months of age – having three jabs in total – and that there is a one-off catch-up programme for babies aged three and four months when it is introduced.

The committee has also recommended a pilot programme vaccinating teenagers to see whether it reduces the level of bacteria carried in the nose, which can trigger meningitis in this age group.

Campaigners claim that, in extreme cases, the cost of treating and supporting each survivor of meningitis is £3million.

Statistics show that between 2008 and 2012, £28million was paid in compensation to the families of children left permanently disabled by meningitis which GPs had not spotted.